The United States on Wednesday lifted sanctions against acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, according to the Treasury Department, boosting ties between the two countries.
The sanctions were dropped, according to an Office of Foreign Assets Control entry on the agency’s website.
The development comes as Washington’s latest move to thaw relations with Venezuela, after Caracas was sent into an uproar in January when President Donald Trump authorized the Pentagon to arrest then-Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela has appeared to be essentially under U.S. control since the lightning raid on Jan. 3.
Tensions have cooled since Maduro was brought to the U.S. to stand trial on narcoterrorism charges, as Rodriguez has proved fairly amenable to working with the Trump administration to enact democratic reforms and revive Venezuela’s once-vibrant oil industry.
The Treasury Department’s move to drop sanctions against Rodriguez, known as a member of Maduro’s inner circle, comes after sanctions were first levied against her in September 2018.
“Maduro has given Delcy Eloina Rodríguez Gomez and Jorge Jesus Rodríguez Gomez senior positions within the Venezuelan government to help him maintain power and solidify his authoritarian rule,” Treasury said in a statement at the time.
The U.S. and Venezuela agreed to renew diplomatic and consular ties in early March, just two months after Trump captured Maduro in the stunning military operation. The U.S. reopened its embassy in Caracas on Monday.
“Our engagement is focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government,” the State Department said.
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Rodriguez praised the normalization of diplomatic relations as “a step in the right direction to normalize and strengthen relations between our countries.”
“We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of the sanctions currently in place on our country, enabling the building and guaranteeing of an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples,” she said in a post to X.
